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Odysseus and the Cyclops Walk into a Bar...

Joe Goodkin will perform his version of the Odyssey--a half-hour folk-song epic--in Chicago (Schubas) on Dec. 6. Here's more:

Goodkin, who was a classics major at University of Wisconsin-Madison, wrote the Odyssey piece years ago and has performed it more than 100 times, mainly for high school students about to read Homer's poem.

But, the Dec. 6 show will be the first time he's performed it at a watering hole. He knows today's adults don't have great memories of studying The Odyssey as high school freshmen. But, if they keep in mind what the story is about -- a father trying to get back home to his wife and child -- they'll be able to sympathize, he said.

"My take on it is to boil it down to the emotions of the story," Goodkin said. "Hopefully, it gets them talking."